“This place is huge!” the gray and orange pegasus shouted.
He took flight, flying high up into the vaulted ceiling of the crystal throne room. Spike smiled as he watched Able Wing flit around the room as he excitedly inspected the fractal patterns hewn in the raw crystal.
Spike walked over to a particularly smaller throne, sized properly for his baby dragon frame, and coughed significantly. The colt circled down and landed next to him, saying, “Yeah?”
Spike smiled smugly and nodded his head at the smaller throne, set next to the throne emblazoned with Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. “Check it out.”
Able’s eyes widened. “No way…”
“Way.”
“They gave you a throne?!” Able fluttered in place energetically.
“They didn’t have to. The palace came with it.”
Able tilted his head. “It did?”
“Sure did!” Spike broke out into a big earnest grin. “It was here when we first came in the room. Sprouted alongside the others.”
“So… are there seven Elements of Harmony now? Or are you like a prince?”
“Well… no.”
“So, why did you get a throne?”
Spike scratched his chin with his claw. “I guess I don’t know why. Maybe Twilight sorta… wanted one for me? It’s probably the same reason the palace sprouted in Ponyville rather than in the Everfree.”
Able smiled a small smile. “You’re really important to Twilight, then?”
Spike beamed. “Well, yeah! I’m her number one assistant!”
Able Wing stared at the ground. “I’m… happy for you, Spike,” he said softly.
A purple claw gently laid on Able Wing’s withers, making him flinch away. “Hey…” Spike relaid his claw gently on Able’s back. “What’s this about?”
Able squirmed.
“You can tell me. We’re friends, right?”
Able looked Spike in the eye for a moment, but looked away. “You and Twilight are really close, and Blueblood and I… aren’t. I mean, I’ve been doing better and everything! I’ve been trying really hard but… it’s already been about a year, and he’s family but still doesn’t feel like it. He’s distant.”
Spike chuckled. “Just distant? I'm surprised he's not yelling at you for every tiny problem.”
Able frowned. “He’s not that bad. He stopped being mean or anything. Sometimes he’s grumpy, but he doesn’t yell much anymore.”
“... Why are you defending him?” Spike asked incredulously. “Weren’t you just complaining about him?”
“That doesn’t mean I think he’s awful. Just that I wish he was better…”
Spike smiled sympathetically. “Well, I guess if Twilight has her way he will get better. I’m beginning to think Twilight’s plan is reforming him, no matter what Blueblood thinks it is.”
Able nodded solemnly. “He talks to himself a lot when he thinks I’m not listening. More than a little of it is about Twilight.”
“It is?” Spike said. “... What does he say?”
Able frowned. “It’s mostly complaints. About how hard he’s working for this project, and how little he thinks she’s contributing.”
Spike scowled. “Who does he think he is? Twilight puts her all into everything she does. She works plenty hard on this!”
Able’s eyes widened. “You know what the project is?”
Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Well… no, I don’t. But I’m sure she’s not not working on this. Twilight’s always been a hard worker; she’s not going to make Blueblood do something without working herself.”
“Oh–” Able’s ears pinned themselves back “–Well, I didn’t think she did.”
“So, aside from Blueblood deluding himself, this doesn’t tell me much about what he’s planning for her,” Spike mumbled to himself, scratching his chin thoughtfully… before catching glimpse of Able’s shocked face. “Oops...”
“I thought you were over that!” Able exclaimed. “You even said we were friends.”
“We are!” Spike retorted. “Blueblood isn’t! You even keep saying he’s not nice, and talks to himself, and is angry at Twilight and lying to her! Why would I trust him?”
“... I guess you can’t.” Able looked away “I trust him though. He hasn’t been nice, but he’s… given me an opportunity. I was out of them, and he gave me one.”
Spike put on a concerned expression, and sat down in his throne, motioning for Able to sit at the throne next to his, Twilight’s throne.
Able’s forehead creased and he shook his head. “No… I can’t sit in a princess’s throne.”
Spike rolled his eyes, and hopped over the armrests and sat in Twilight’s throne. “There. Now you sit in mine.”
Able made to move a bit, but stopped, his expression conflicted.
“Go ahead. I, as the dragon whose throne that is, give you permission to sit in it.”
“But now you’re sitting in the Princess’s throne.”
“And if she objects, I’ll be the one that will get in trouble.” He put his claw up to his mouth conspiratorially and whispered very loudly, “But she won’t. So, sit down so we don’t have to stand through the whole conversation.”
Able moved and sat down on Spike’s throne.
Spike leaned on the armrest to address Able. “So, what’s this about Blueblood giving you your only opportunity?”
Able looked forlornly at his empty flank. “... I’m not good at anything. As the second foal I have more freedom than my older sister, who is expected to govern. I just have to find something respectable to do with my life, maybe run a business or be a scholar...”
He sighed. “But those things aren’t my talent. My family would be happy just… letting me live with them, and I wouldn’t have to do anything hard! But I wouldn’t be happy with that. I don’t want to be a wastrel. I want to be useful! But without a talent I don’t have a place yet.
“But Blueblood… he doesn’t need me to have a talent that’s good at helping him for him to want my help. I’m just an assistant, but he lets me come along when he manages holdings, and has slowly been trusting me to do some minor stuff for them on my own. I mean… he does pawn me off on tutors when he doesn’t need me, and that’s nothing new, and he talks to himself a lot and can be in a foul mood a lot but… I can do a lot more for him than I can for my immediate family, and I’ve been learning a lot!”
Spike let his mouth stay slightly open.
Able smiled. “He’s not the best pony in the world but… he’s helped me out already.”
Spike furrowed his brow. “I… guess I can see how he could be good… for you. Nopony’s all bad, after all.”
Able sat up suddenly, his ears twitching as he looked around.
“Um… what is–”
Able shushed Spike. “Quiet,” he hissed. “I can hear um… something.”
Spike closed his eyes and listened intently. There were muffled shouts coming from somewhere nearby. He looked Able in the eyes.
The two of them shared a nod, and both quietly slid off of their respective stolen thrones. They crept up to the door to the library, and they pressed their ears to the closed door.
“... because Twilight Sparkle couldn’t stand just being given Princesshood on a silver platter and has to whine about how her destiny is somehow uncertain?” Blueblood ranted.
“On a silver platter?! I studied for years, and I saved Luna. And defeated Discord! And then I finished a spell that had sat fallow for more than a thousand years! And now I finally know what my destiny is, and you can’t even be happy for me?”
“Hah. Destiny you say? Perhaps the destiny to be chosen by Celestia then have your entire life guided into this role. It must have been a real challenge to have every step of your so difficult life planned out from a young age. What you call destiny was just what Celestia always does: arrange everything so that you come out on top.”
“I… Where does a Prince, born into the same title I have, get off complaining about my title when I earned it? When I’ve been through what I’ve been through for it?” Twilight retorted.
“Oh? You think I haven’t had to work? You think I haven’t seen misfortune or strife? Or you believe somehow my title is the same as yours? Was I sitting on a throne during the Equestria Games alongside you? No. And that just scratches the surface of how much less my title is worth than yours.”
There was a pause, and Spike and Able pressed their heads against the door harder.
Twilight’s voice came quietly. “... Maybe there’s a good reason for that.”
“Oh? A good reason you say?! Go ahead, tell me,” he growled.
“You’re rude. You’re pompous. You didn't even respect your assistant when I met you! You try to play stupid mind games or impress me with knowledge you don’t have.”
“Is that it? You don’t have a single idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Weren't we talking about your lack of respect from the populace?”
Blueblood chuckled mirthlessly. “This has nothing to do with the populace. I can’t believe Twilight Sparkle didn't do her research. I thought by now you definitely would have done some homework on me.”
“Tell me then. I can’t carry on a conversation if I don’t know what we’re talking about.”
Blueblood’s voice became very low. “You’re the smart pony. Figure it out.” There was the sound of hooves approaching the door.
“I can’t help you if you don’t open up to me!” Twilight pleaded.
“Help me?!” Blueblood screeched. “I am helping you finish your project! What have you helped me with? Only nagging me about things you think make you better than me.”
There was a vague magical shimmering sound, followed by the loud sound of approaching hooves.
Spike and Able barely got out of the way as a purple alicorn burst through the crystal door. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shot open at the sight of Spike and Able. “... How much did you–” She shook her head “–no, that’s not important now. Did you see what happened to Blueblood?”
Spike shook his head.
“But he… how did he disappear like that?”
Spike shrugged. “He definitely didn’t come through this way. Maybe he teleported.”
Twilight frowned. “It didn’t look or feel like a teleport, but if he was using a different method… I could maybe...” She caught glimpse of Able, and stopped.
Able had a lost expression on his face.
Twilight put on a sympathetic smile. “I-I’m sorry.”
“No it’s… I understand. H-he can be difficult,” Able said.
“No, I’ve been trying to get through to him… to understand him. I pushed him too far today but… I think I’m close.” She bit her lip. “If I didn’t just ruin it right here, leaving my project unfinished, Blueblood miserable, and you stranded.”
She looked at Spike. “Stay with Able. I’m going to try to find Blueblood and figure this out. If it gets to be too long, you can stay in a guest room, Able.”
He nodded wordlessly.
“Good… I’m sorry about all of this.”
She galloped down the hallways, leaving Able and Spike alone.
Spike opened the door to the room he set up for research in the Ponyville palace. This room was once filthy, but now it was squeaky clean, all his notes were neatly stacked and the ash was cleaned from the floor. It had all been polished to a crystalline shine, as shiny as it was when it was new.
Rushing over to his notes, he quickly skimmed through them to make sure they were all in order. ‘But… who did all this? Was it the girls? Some servants?’ He recalled the past week, filled with parties and picnics and fun.
Spike frowned. ‘So how much of that was distracting me so they could clean up? I can clean up my own messes, thank you very much!’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Listen to me, I spend the week having fun with my friends, and I’m complaining that they helped me because I could do it myself?’
Spike took the most recent scrolls and laid them out before himself. ‘As fun as this week has been, I need to get back to work.’
The latest notes were about his experiments in using ambient magic to affect his letter-sending magic. Various mana-dense crystals and zebra rituals peppered his sheet… as well as the latest test that he thought was successful. Spike sighed, scratched out the last test, and wrote:
Test 113 was a false positive. I accidentally sent my letter to Celestia.
He surveyed his latest battery of tests. ‘So… what was I trying to accomplish with these tests, anyway? I mean… there was no evidence that any of these things were suddenly going to make the letters pierce the veil between the worlds… I don’t even have evidence that it would affect the sending process at all.’
Spike frowned. ‘This is hardly research at all. It’s grasping at straws! I thought… I thought I was doing so well. But there were so many that came before me… I’m not smarter than anypony who’s done this before. Celestia was right… how could I hope to finish this when some ponies have thrown away their entire lives and still haven’t succeeded.’
He let his head fall roughly onto his desk. ‘What hope do I have?’
Spike sat, wallowing in his own misery for only a minute. ‘No,’ he reprimanded himself. ‘Who’s trying to find Twilight? I’m the only one. She’s counting on me.’
He roughly pushed the sheets of paper away. ‘If what I was working on didn’t work. I’ll find something that will.’
He took out a new scroll of paper. ‘Celestia told me that every generation there was a thestral trying to go home. I barely looked up anything about their history or where they came from, I tried to work purely theoretically.
‘But theory isn’t enough, I need to know what the thestrals know. Or knew, anyway. I need to look at history. At legends.’
Spike sprang up from his position, and pointed dramatically at the ceiling. “To the library!” He called out, and sped out the door of the lab.
Reaching the library, Spike lit a candle and went straight to the oldest history books, choosing the beefiest tome on the shelf. He stretched and cracked his knuckles.
“Let’s get to work.”
He threw open the cover of the tome.
Spike woke up with a start and a snort. The room was bright and cheerful, the crystalline walls allowing the early daylight to illuminate the whole room. Spike sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘Ugh… I nodded off. How much did I get done?’
He looked down at the now-drool-covered tome, currently turned to a page on Pre Classical Era history. His notes had an outline, and no detail. Spike fetched a cloth to blot away his drool. ‘That is way too little for a night of work…’ He sighed.
‘Well, no time like–’ Spike’s stomach rumbled ‘–after breakfast.’
He started walking out the door. ‘Well, I’m not very bus–No wait. I’ve got to meet the new steward today, and probably some new palace staff. And that means there’s going to be a Pinkie Party, and lots of other stuff.’ He looked back at his research, half packed away. ‘I can get to it tonight… right?’